Serangoon North Renovation By Defong Interior Design

[ayazumi 0]

So are the toilet ceilings

One part of the living room has plastered

Edited April 24, 2012 by ayazumi

[XTR 1]

This is our floor plan

We prefer earth tone colors. So we decided to choose colors for the furniture, carpentry, tiles and paint to be nature / earth color.

o m g man. your floorplan is similar to mine except the store room. small home 1 toilet, 1 bathroom. small small!

you have the protrusion because the previous owner put wall tiles there.

somtimes ppl might lean on the gypsum board there and i have it somewhere in my home. it doesnt feel like it can take heavy leaning. but whats the price difference of putting cement and putting board?

[Valerie Low 0]

I think I would prefer option 2 too, if use cement to cover the gap, it won't be as flush as using gypsum board right?

[curryfishhead 0]

Hi Akitsuki

It seems strange that I quoted your first post.

Anyway, was reading your blog and was thinking out loud.

You mentioned that we have to be careful about all the details and any changes (no matter how small) will be charged. Is this happening to you from DeFONG?

Frankly, I am doing my 2nd renovation now. If throwing away of your dismantled furniture also not flexible and kenna charge, then we really have to think carefully about engaging the contractor. After all, we are not a renovation contractor and a lot of people are doing it for the first time. How to document everything down 100% from the word "go"?

Let's hope that you won't be charged too much extra....

Generally, I feel that Contractor do make a living and they should do it by winning us over with their prices, design and profession-ism and NOT through Variation Order.

Good luck.

Just share with us your experience about this. Frankly, I hope DeFONG read this...

After reading the forum on other's renovation blog, finally decided to start one of my own to share my renovation journey. my wife and i are gonna renovate our new home, a 4rm resale in serangoon north.. after searching and reading up the forums, finally decided to sign with DeFONG interior design because the price falls within our budget and meet our expectation.. renovation will start on the 19th Feb and hopefully everything turns out well... have heard some good and bad remarks abt the company.. but as there were more good remarks.. we decided to go ahead let Kevin Tan(our contractor)do the renovation for us.

I will be doing the dismantling of built in wardrobes and shelves myself from 15th feb (动土日） to save some cost...

Even after dismantle, I am still having headache where and how I can throw away the items. Kevin is charging per item and we cannot use the debris bin to throw the items away. Due to our budget constrain, I have to find ways to throw the items away myself...

will upload pictures and my floorplan soon...

one very important thing to note, if any bros ever want to do renovation in future, remember to list down everything which you want down to the simpliest detail to avoid incurring additional charges. Dont sign with the contractor until u have finalized your renovation ideas or be prepared to pay the penalty fees for cancellation of the items which u have agreed and signed for. everything must be black and white. dont assume people will do stuffs for you just because u think it's not a big issue. u might be slapped back with additional charges which is not so pleasant. (learnt it the hard way)

they might be responsible for the stuffs they do, but when it comes to $$.. there is no friendship...

[ayazumi 0]

Valerie is right. We weighed the pros and cons. If we really want to full flush the gap to that wall, the possibility is gypsum board, leaving no gaps at all. We have to consider the factor that there is floor skirting. If apply cement to that wall, and we align the skirting to the kitchen tiles, the cement wall (above skirting) may not be able to full flush the gap. Unless the skirting align with the cement wall above, but this may require alot of skills. But we foresee that the skirting may end up protruding out a little.

XTR was right about the gypsum board substainability - can it hold our weight if we lean against that wall? We have not really thought of this, and we may actually lean on it. We were quoted $80 per gypsum board. For that wall dimension, it requires 2 gypsum boards. To apply cement wall may be FOC, but contractor cannot confirm with us yet. So we can't compare the price now, but I doubt cement screeding is FOC.....

We don't opt for full gypsum board coverage because we need to mop the floor, and wet floor may damage the gypsum board. The best alternative is apply cement at bottom and put skirting. Above skirting is gypsum board.

[ayazumi 0]

DAY TWENTY-TWO

I am on leave today, supposed to stay home study for final exam, in the end have to go to the house to receive our Blanco sink (luckily I was on leave too). However, I was late to receive the delivery too. The delivery man was earlier than me, and placed the sink in our living hall.

It turns out to be a little dull grey. Quite different from the one that we saw in Hoe Kee showroom. I was expecting it to be reddish grey. Maybe the sink is still in the box, so it looks dark. I hope it will turn out better than this.

Today we have three plumbers are assigned to do the plumbing work, and three workers doing the plastering work. The Arts room is almost completed, and two workers are currently working on the study room. High chance that they may complete the plastering work today. While the three plumbers are running the stainless stain pipings and installing the wc and basins.

Was discussing with contractor about the gap alignment issue. Plastering is confirmed the worst solution because the thicker the plaster work is, the more it will crack sooner or later. Cement is not possible too because cement will glide from the wall. So the best solution is still the gypsum board. Was assured that by leaning on gypsum board will not dent the board, but if you hit the wall with something sharp or heavy, then the gypsum board will chip off. There's always pros and cons for anything.

Shall update later again... Stay tune!

Edited April 24, 2012 by ayazumi

[Akitsuki 0]

Hi Akitsuki

It seems strange that I quoted your first post.

Anyway, was reading your blog and was thinking out loud.

You mentioned that we have to be careful about all the details and any changes (no matter how small) will be charged. Is this happening to you from DeFONG?

Frankly, I am doing my 2nd renovation now. If throwing away of your dismantled furniture also not flexible and kenna charge, then we really have to think carefully about engaging the contractor. After all, we are not a renovation contractor and a lot of people are doing it for the first time. How to document everything down 100% from the word "go"?

Let's hope that you won't be charged too much extra....

Generally, I feel that Contractor do make a living and they should do it by winning us over with their prices, design and profession-ism and NOT through Variation Order.

Good luck.

Just share with us your experience about this. Frankly, I hope DeFONG read this...

i shall not comment much on this issue yet as i have not received the final amount for my renovation. all i can say is that, the initial quote given to us for the amount of work we are doing is indeed very cheap.(which is 1 of the reasons why we choose DeFong.)unlike other ID's which might have already factor in 40-50% profit. (depends on the ID) so i was expecting some VO as the reno proceeds. mayb our contractor might give us a good discount at the end. who knows? haha.. anyway.. i also hope i wont incurred too much additional cost to my renovation. shall write a review about DeFong after the renovation is completed to share abt my experience. Cheers~

[piknik 1]

Its so nice that you guys having a daily renovation dairy. I would read slowly to digest all the info.

[ayazumi 0]

Its so nice that you guys having a daily renovation dairy. I would read slowly to digest all the info.

Yesterday we had this conversation....

Hubby: I have uploaded the photos, please update the blog

ME: I don't want to update everyday. Skip one day ok? Anyways also not much things to update. Everyday update, the people who read it also feel bored of the same progress.

Hubby: No, you must update the blog daily. You can update tomorrow when you are taking break from your study revision. Take your time. (Meaning: You die die must update, that's it)

[mihochris 0]

Yesterday we had this conversation....

Hubby: I have uploaded the photos, please update the blog

ME: I don't want to update everyday. Skip one day ok? Anyways also not much things to update. Everyday update, the people who read it also feel bored of the same progress.

Hubby: No, you must update the blog daily. You can update tomorrow when you are taking break from your study revision. Take your time. (Meaning: You die die must update, that's it)

:rofl: !!! infact im still reading ur updates daily!!

got fans like me still reading ur blog daily.. must update.. :good:

oppsss...

[ayazumi 0]

:rofl: !!! infact im still reading ur updates daily!!

got fans like me still reading ur blog daily.. must update.. :good:

oppsss...

Thank you for being our first fan.

[ayazumi 0]

Great news!

We were surprised by the quick rectification. Our contractor made it HAPPEN! The spirit of "today-feedback, today-do" is excellent!

They install the gypsum boards this afternoon and work is completed! The gap is fully flushed to the gypsum board, leaving no gap at all. Hubby SMS me say the problem is fixed, I immediately rush to the house to take a look. I haven't taken the picture yet because there are 6 hunks working in the house, so I don't want to obstruct their work, but I managed to take a quick glance at that wall, and I can't see the gap at all. I can't differentiate which is wall tile, which is gypsum board. Both look so white. Our (actually mine) main sore eye is completely gone.

Wait till hubby comes home then take some pictures.

[ayazumi 0]

END OF DAY TWENTY-TWO

Early this morning, we have discussed much in our earlier posts about the sore-eye gap alignment issue of that piece of wall, which was previously the MBR old doorway, was not aligned with the kitchen wall tiles. This afternoon, contractor arranged worker to do up gypsum board to cover the gap. I shall show case the end result using gypsum boards, and TADAH!

Nothing can makes me happier than this

The floor skirting is not done yet as this work will be pushed to near final stage when we rectified the floor tiles, then the tilers will come in to do the rectification + new floor skirting for that piece of wall.

So far, Hubby has rectified the study room and found no hollow tiles. He uses one-dollar coin to lightly knock the tiles to hear if there is hollow sound. You must be wondering why by using one-dollar coin, we can check hollow tiles? Hubby proved this to me. There was a hollow tile in the living room. When he lightly dropped the one-dollar coin on the hollow tile, the sound was different from solid to hollow tiles. Therefore, I am convinced one-dollar coin actually works!

Edited April 24, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

Let's continue the plastering works

Study room plastering work has completed. Uncle applied a layer of water to smoothier the plaster surface. The wall is still very wet, can see the water mark color.

Arts room plastering work has completed too. The workers shift their barang barang to this room, so we can't check the floor tiles in this room. We may ask them to shift the barang barang to study room since no hollow tiles were found.

Tomorrow the plaster men will do the plastering work for the living room walls and ceiling. This should be quite easy for them and can complete quite fast. The troublesome thing is the ceiling. Normally plastering work for ceiling will take quite long.

Edited April 24, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

We saw a number of home owners have issue with the bending of stainless steel pipes in their homes. Sometimes the bending work can be very horrible until immediate rectification needs to be done with the pipings. We are lucky that we have good skilled plumbers assigned to do the piping works for our home. I am totally impressed with their worksmanship. We also saw some forumers complained about Lucky Khoon's after-sales services are bad, but I can't help it, but to praise them for their work. The reason is, the plumbers assigned to our home today are from Lucky Khoon! They are wearing their uniforms, so I believe Defong outsources their plumbing works to Lucky Khoon. I'm glad Defong has found got a good batch of plumbers from Lucky Khoon.

These are the piping works that are installed today:

Pipes to link to kitchen sink and toilets?

Pipe to link to washer?

Corner bend at left corner above kitchen window

Edited April 24, 2012 by ayazumi